


Queen Glimmer - Supreme ruler of the universe

by Bagge



Series: Evil Queen Glimmer [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Drama, Evil Glimmer, Evil Queen Glimmer, Gen, Horde Prime stood no chance, Illustrated, Machiaellian Glimmer, Pastiche, Powerplay, queen glimmer, season5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28358181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bagge/pseuds/Bagge
Summary: Horde Prime's second big mistake was to bring Queen Glimmer aboard his ship. His first big mistake was to make himself her target to begin with. Poor sod won't stand a chance.
Series: Evil Queen Glimmer [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077236
Comments: 11
Kudos: 15





	Queen Glimmer - Supreme ruler of the universe

**Author's Note:**

> I started to write this revenge fantasy as I watched season 5 of the show, and after all the crap Horde Prime pulled, it was really cathartic to have Glimmer outwit him at every turn. This is sort of a continuation of "The day Queen Glimmer won the war", but since it doesn't fit in the same continuum, and is much more glib in its tone, it's a separate story rather than a sequel. This time Queen Glimmer goes all Machiavellian on Horde Prime.
> 
> Illustration commissioned from Lorvikk (https://lorvikk.tumblr.com/)

"I hope you enjoyed that dish. It is the last remains of a world I destroyed a long time ago."

Glimmer froze, the spoon halfway to her mouth. She looked in horror at the plate, and for a moment it seemed like she would throw up. Horde Prime was not disappointed with the reaction.

"Such a rich flavor. Such a rare seasoning. Do not fear the same fate for your own world, your majesty. I can bring mercy just as easily as wrath. There is no reason for your world to suffer... if you prove yourself valuable to me, that is."

"...valuable." Glimmer forced herself to look up at Horde Prime. "You want something from me." Slowly she lifted the spoon to her lips. "Something you can't just have your clones take.. You are after the Heart of Etheria?"

"Well done, my Queen.. The light of the first ones would scatter the darkness all over the universe. The light of Horde Prime would shine over all."

"Well, if you know so much about it, you surely know why I can't give it to you... Do you truly think I wouldn't have used it on you if I could?"

"You? Wield a weapon not even the first ones managed to fire? Don't make me laugh. You will find that Horde Prime is far less limited."

"So it may be, but you will still not be able to fire the weapon, not without the key. And before you start threatening me or my people... I don't know where it is. I was never able to solve their riddles in time."

"Riddles..."

"Left by the first ones. Scattered in stories and legends. Every person you kill down on the surface is one less person who might have been able to give you the clues you lack.... so it seems we have reached an impasse, my host." Glimmer took another bite of the strange dish. "This really was most exquisite. I wish I could send my compliments to the cook, rather than his butcher."

Horde Prime's eyes narrowed.

"We will discuss this further when you are in more... cooperative mood."

As she was walked away from the table, Glimmer surreptitiously tucked away the plastic spoon in her sleeve. Catra's ear twitched, but she didn't say anything.

\- - -

"Hey..." Catra stood outside the cell. Her voice was mocking but her eyes were worried. Glimmer walked up to the force field that separated them. She regarded Catra in silence for a few moments, then she bowed her neck.

"Congratulations, Catra. You won. I lost. I hope you are happy."

"Yeah.... Perfectly. More than you, anyway."

"A lifetime of Serving Horde Prime. A fine prize."

"I'll work myself up. I'll find opportunities while you rot in a cell. I've done it before. Just you wait." 

"He will kill Adora, you know." Catra looked away.

"He has no reason to care about just one person. She might..." Glimmer chuckled.

"She will scream defiance from the mountaintops and pick a fight with any one of his soldiers she sees. It's Adora we're speaking of. If she wasn't already a target she would make herself one. You know that."

"Well, she should be smarter, then. She can't expect me to come running after her every time she does something stupid or reckless." Glimmer quickly hid a smile.

"What if I told you there is another way?" Catra had been on her way to leave, but now she stopped. Glimmer pressed as close to the force field she could and whispered.

"He can't kill Adora if we get to him first. You saw what he did to Hordak. He is a threat to you just as much as to me. The world he threatens to destroy is yours just as much as mine. Help me, Catra. Not for my sake, but for yours. For Adora." 

"You don't have the guts, even if you could."

"Why not? I came really close to kill you back there in the Fright zone."

"Yeah. Close. But not enough."

"Well, maybe I'll just have to try harder this time."

Catra narrowed her eyes. Neither spoke for a few moments.

"What did you have in mind?"

"First of all, you have to promise me one thing. Don't tell him about the Black Garnet."

Back in his throne room, Horde Prime smiled.

\- - -

"Tell me, little sister. What do you know about a stone known as 'The Black Garnet?'"

"No... nothing?"

"You are a bad liar, Catra, but no matter. The stone will be brought to me for study. I know my imperfect brother studied it for years without breaking all its secrets. Most likely that is the 'riddle' our guest was speaking about. Magic is a potent source of power, and as such is should be yielded only by Horde Prime. You can assist me in telling me where to find it." Catra said nothing. Horde Prime held the silence for a moment before he went on.

"...or I can lift the informations straight from our brain. Your choice."

"Listen, it's not that easy," Catra hurriedly said. "If I tell you where it is, the princesses will know. Right now, they think I'm dead. If they know I'm still up here they will come for me." Horde Prime laughed.

"Come for you? Who would ever be able to threaten you here, little sister? Horde Prime's will is all that matter. I thought you understood that by now."

"Even so... you don't know them like I do. You don't know what they are capable of... If I tell you, there's something you need to do for me."

"Very well, Little Sister. Let's hear it."

"A show of force."

"Show of force? Is that all? My brothers are subjugating this world as we speak. All will know prime."

"No, all they know are some dumb spires and clones. Half of them will think this is just Hordak again. They don't know _you_. They don't know Horde Prime. But I know how to teach them."

"And the stone?"

"Still in the Fright Zone. I'll show you the coordinates so you can beam it on board."

\- - -

Of all frustrating things, magic was the worst. Horde Prime looked over the results of his latest readings, but so far the Black Garnet resisted deeper analysis. It interfered with his instruments, corrupted the data and made the machinery of the ship unstable. There had been several unexplained breakdown and data losses since they brought the gem on board. Truly, it was a wonder that his defect brother had got as much out of it as he had.

Still, no matter. It was a small price to pay for control of the first one's power source. And he knew that it was only a matter of time before one of his guests caved and told him what he needed to know. Perhaps it was time to humor Catra's request.

\- - -

Catra sunk down on the floor with her backs to the force field. In the cell, Glimmer did the same thing, mirroring her movements precisely.

"I... I don't know why I keep coming back to you." Catra said in low voice. "Maybe we do have common cause, after all. Maybe I'm just longing for a familiar face or maybe..." She started to chuckle. Glimmer did the same.

"Sorry, I'll try to keep it up. But you make it awfully hard with these ridiculous illusions. I guess you did pay attention to Shadow Weavers lessons. You'll be happy to know that the instruments don't seem to be able to separate your magic from all the interference from the Black Garnet. So much for 'Horde Prime sees all' and all that. And that wild goose chase you sent him on still seems to hold his interest. Anyway, I'll better storm away so it looks like you said something to get under my skin to keep them off your back a bit longer... YOU PINK SOFTIE!" She slammed her fist against the force field and angrily stalked away.

The clone further down in the corridor nodded in satisfaction. The prisoners turned against each other just like Horde Prime in his infinite wisdom had predicted. Soon she would be ready to talk.

\- - -

"You cant keep pushing yourself like this, Adora. We have to..."

"We have to get Glimmer back!, Bow I don't care where Horde Prime's keeping her. If we need a spaceship to get there, then a spaceship is what we will get. If Entrapta need to study his spire to get the spaceship working that's where she needs to go. And if we need to go through a hundred soldiers to get there then that's what..."

"You need to sleep, Adora!"

"We need She-Ra! I won't get her back by sitting in my tent. I can't fail them agai..."

Suddenly the tent was ripped open, and Swift Wind gave them a worried look.

"Um... you guys sorted it out? Good, because I really need you guys to have sorted it out. Horde Prime has just landed his main ship. In Brightmoon."

"Adora!!! No, we need to plan. Don't just rush in... Aaaaand she's gone."

\- - -

"Well, little sister. You have yet to demonstrate the utility of this endeavor.

"Brightmoon was their seat of power. Their hope. By destroying it you demonstrate the futility in standing in the way of Horde Prime."

"Something I had already amply given proof of."

"There is also... this little trinket." Catra gestured towards the Moonstone hovering above the spires of the castle.

"While another piece of the first one's circuitry will surely be of marginal use for solving their pitiful riddles, I could just as well have beamed it aboard."

"Of course, of course, but that would only have given you parts of the puzzle. I rather thought we would go straight for the... KEY!" and with that Catra snatched a gun from one of the soldiers and shot straight towards the sun. A petulant neighing was heard, and Swift Wind quickly changed course and flew away in evasive pattern. Horde Prime raised an eyebrow.

"And warding of that sad excuse for an attack is of significance because..."

"Oh no, that was not the attack, that was just the distraction. THIS is the attack." Catra turned the gun straight towards Horde Prime and shot. He didn't move as the beam passed just beside him.

"You were never a threat to me, little sister, but I'm still disappointed in you."

"Of course I weren't a threat to the might of Horde Prime, and neither were they." She gestured behind him and Horde Prime turned around. Trapped by the rubble from the castle wall Catra's blast had dislodged were two people in clone armors desperately trying to get up.

"Still, I wanted to be the one to deliver they key to you. I give you Adora, also known as She-Ra. She will unlock the heart of Etheria for you."

"You are not totally useless after all, little sister."

"Catra!" One of the soldiers had removed her helmet revealing a blond and pissed off rebel leader. 

"Hey, you wanted to be reunited with sparkles again, Adora. You should be thanking me."

\- - -

"I will never help you," Adora snarled from her prison abord Horde Prime's ship.

"I thought you would say that. Perhaps my other guest can help... persuade you." Horde Prime pressed a button, and a previously opaque wall became translucent. Behind it, Glimmer sat on the floor. She was a wretched sight. Her clothes were torn, her skin was pale, her eyes were swollen from crying.

"Glimmer..." Adora said and tried to reach for her friend. The chains stopped her.

"Poor thing," Horde prime mocked. "She thought she could deceive me... thought she could plot against me on my own ship. But even so, all things serve a purpose, and little Glimmer here served well enough as bait for you... Don't you agree, She-Ra?"

He pressed a button on a remote control, and from probes in the ceiling of Glimmer's cell red lighting shot out. It clung to her skin like static electricity. Glimmer screamed and trashed around on the floor in a futile attempt to get away from the pain.

"GLIMMER!" Adora cried. She struggled against the chains. "LET HER GO!" Horde Prime laughed and pressed the button again. Glimmer slumped to the floor.

"I take no pleasure in hurting any creature, no matter how small or insignificant. Why don't you spare her from further pain and give me what I want? You will give in eventually anyway. Give me She-Ra, and Glimmer will be spared. Otherwise..." He held up the remote control again with his finger hovering over the button.

"A... Adora?" Gimmer whispered. Her eyes were full of tears. Adora felt something bubble up inside her. Something she had thought gone. Something that was about to answer to the threat to her friend with a simply unseemly amount of violence.

"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAY-SKULL!!!!"

There were fifteen separate defenses against magic and force in the cell where Adora sat. Six of them she burnt out just by her transforming. Five of them she cut through like butter and three were downed before Horde Prime had time to react. But the rest held, and She-Ra was trapped. Horde Prime smiled. He met She-Ra's gaze. She looked back at him in fury. Then - without any warning whatsoever - she was gone.

Horde Prime did a sharp intake of breath. His sensors spiked the way he started to recognized as a tell-tale sign of magic, but the force fields around the cell was intact.

"Bra-vo," Glimmer said. "You sure showed her who is boss. Big and mighty Horde Prime scaring the super mean princess away..... SILENCE" the last words had been uttered in perfect unison with Horde Prime's cry of fury. And in his own voice. He spun around. There was something... off with the princess. Something in the posture, something in her expression.

"Who are you?"

'Glimmer' laughed, and 'her' features melted, becoming taller, lankier. Less pink.

"Name's Double Trouble. Artist extraordinairé... Although I have to say my talents are wasted on the likes of you. Normally I have to truly get into the mind of the person I am impersonating to really sell the emotional _core_ of the performance... with you, all I had to do was throw you a damsel in distress." Their voice changed and became Glimmer's one again.

"Ooooh, save me. I'm so very scared of you, Horde Prime. You truly have me in your power, Horde Prime. I'm so very helpless, Horde Pri... SILENCE!" Again, they repeated the last word in perfect unison with the furious Horde Prime.

"SILENCE," he repeated. Double Trouble did a mocking little bow.

"You will talk, changeling. You will tell me where She-Ra went. You will tell me where Glimmer is. You will tell me how she managed so get away from me and smuggle _you_ in here." Double Trouble laughed.

"Maaaagic," they said and spread long, green fingers in a mystic gesture. "She's been able to teleport since you brought the Black Garnet aboard. Not very long-distance, of course, but enough for mischief. And happily you were willing to dip down to the surface so she could coordinate with the fellow princesses and bring your's truly to the stage. I hope you liked my performance." Horde Prime's eyes narrowed.

"We are not at the surface now, so do you mean to tell me she managed to teleport her friend away all the way from the planet? Right through my shields?"

"NOW you went and brought out She-Ra, which kinda is the linchpin of this entire power-circuit-thing they are building. Glimmer is super-charged now. I doubt there is anywhere in the universe you can hide from her."

As on cue, Queen Glimmer blinked into existence next to Double Trouble. She looked much less perturbed than the performance the shape-shifter had brought on.

"Ah, seems like it's time for me to exit stage. I'd say I hope for a _da capo_ , but the way your day is going I kinda doubt you will be around for it. Tah!"

And with that, Glimmer and Double Trouble teleported out. The former without even sparing a glance for her former captor.

Whatever profanities or violence against electronics Horde Prime might have employed to vent his frustration had to be put on hold, because at that moment alarms started to blare, and the screen indicated multiple intruder alerts all over the ship.

"Status?" he barked.

"Um.... we are currently held up in the hangar bay," one of the clones answered nervously through the com. There seem to be intruders on the ship but there is someone between us and them..."

"Just one person? Deal with it and rid my ship of these... these... parasites." Horde Prime turned the com off and stalked out of the chamber. The clone nervously looked up at his squad mates.

"Noting can stay in the way of the Glory of Horde Prime," he said, more to boost his own morale than anything else. They grabbed their guns and charged.

There were two hundred soldiers on the ship, all armed with the latest of battle tech and supported by robots and drones. Princess Scorpia stood between them and the door. The Black Garnet was less than four decks away, and with She-Ra back, power pumped into her from the core of the planet below in amounts she had never before experienced.

It wasn't even close to a fair fight.

\- - -

In the main server hall, Entrapta was swimming in data. Her super charged mind kept flashing with new ideas, new possibilities faster than her neurons could carry them. But then, in the virtual environment she wasn't limited by the speed of thought any longer. She started to bud off small software construct with a thought or a task, and they started to communicate results and reflections and follow-up inquires with each other. Soon an entire digital ecology were spreading from her sparkling, bubbling mind.

One particular data point kept nagging at her attention. An audio signal.

"ENTRAPTA!" Glimmer cried over the com. Have you found it?"

"Found...? Yeah, sure. Piece of cake.... Cake! Cake enabled! Tiny cake! Fractal cake. Infinite subdivisions. Did you know that...?"

"Just activate it, and you can have all the cake you want."

"Yeah, yeah. I get you." Entrapta took a breath and gathered her extended digital mind. The software bots paused for the briefest of picoseconds, then they swarmed through Horde Prime's computer system and its endless archives of stolen and hidden data in an ever expanding pattern unified in one single goal.

_Light Hope_

\- - -

Down on the planet, previously dead hologram emitters blinked back to life. Empty memory banks filled up as data streamed form Horde Prime's spires. Light Hope blinked into existence and looked around in surprise. Glimmer entered the temple of the first ones with measured steps.

"Do you know who I am?" Light Hope turned to her.

"Of course I do, administrator Queen Glimmer of Brightmoon. What can I do for you?"

"You can help me take over the universe."

\- - -

The blasted interference from magic was everywhere. His systems were failing. The neural net was glitching. His clones were not answering. Horde Prime stalked through the corridors in a foul mood. The lighting was failing and the corridors were full of shadows. He heard a sound behind him and spun around. A shadow slipped behind a corner. A motion along the ceiling caught his eye and he sent a blast that way, but hit nothing except a beam that fell with a clatter.

When he turned around again, Queen Glimmer stood less than three steps in front of him with a sweet little smile. He pressed the trigger, but before the blast hit, she was gone. He gritted his teeth.

Of all frustrating things, magic was the worst. Magic and the princesses wielding it.

\- - -

"Tell me..." Glimmer hesitated for a moment. "I've seen you create things out of thin air."

"Submolecular restucturalization from a prerecorded pattern."

"Yes... that. Can you create anything?"

"Within current capacities and analytic framework a conservative estimate..."

"Never mind. Just... can you create more of this?" Glimmer held up a plastic spoon, carefully tucked away in a box. On it was residues of a gooey substance.

"Preliminary analysis indicate a simple organic substance which should be well within current..."

"Then do it!"

\- - -

He entered the throne room. Two of his clones stood to attention and he snarled at them to follow him. As he turned around again, Queen Glimmer sat in his throne. She was eating a gelatinous dish from a plate on the armrest, apparently taking great delight in it. 

"Rich flavor. Rare seasoning," she said. He forced himself to calm down, even managed a little smirk.

"Well played, my guest. I hope you enjoy this brief illusion of having the upper hand."

"Immensely, my host."

"I do not know, though, what kind of victory you hope to secure. Surely you don't think you can kill me?"

"Of course I won't kill you, my host. I'm one of the good guys after all."

"I, on the other hand am not." Catra jumped down from her hiding spot on the wall. Her claws shot out and she made a swipe towards Horde Prime. He tracked her with her gun but she quickly jumped to the side.

"Kill her!" he barked to the clones. Only one of them moved, clumsily trying to follow the quickly moving Catra. The other clone stood where he had found it, watching him with an empty expression. He grabbed it by the throat and held it in the air. 

"I GAVE YOU AN ORDER... what!" The clone melted away in his hand and turned into a shadow that slipped down the floor. The shadow solidified into two new people. A man and a woman.

"Sorry to barge in. The name is Micah. My little girl here told me she could use some help."

The second person didn't say a word. She only glared at Horde Prime from behind her mask. But her hands were busy preparing a spell.

"To me!" Horde Prime cried to the last clone as he took a step back and prepared to defend himself.

"No," Hordak said and shot him in the face.

\- - -

Horde Prime had been careless to walk into an ambush, he was the first to admit it, but then, dying was not a great concern for him. Perhaps the loss of one vessel was worth it to demonstrate the futility of trying to kill him. He cast his consciousness out in search of a new body, and decided that his defective brother would do for now. If nothing else, having his own mind erased and replaced by Horde Prime would be a suitable punishment.

He felt the familiar neural patterns of the clone as he eased into its brain and opened his eyes... tried to open his eyes... ordered it to open its eyes...

Darkness.

Something was horribly wrong.

With an increasing sense of dread, Horde Prime tried to leave the body in search of a new vessel, but he couldn't. He couldn't leave. He couldn't control the body. He was stuck. 

"Well done, Hordak," Glimmer said from the throne. "I assume this means you caught him?" Shadow-weaver placed her fingers on the head of the clone and concentrated. She nodded."

"He is in there. The neural cage seems to be able to hold him."

"Very good. Entrapta? Is the device prepared."

"I aaaaaaam the machine!"

"I'll take that as a yes. Please, Hordak. You brought Horde Prime to Etheria. You will have the honor of ending his empire."

"And you will stand by your side of the deal?"

"I will have no use for this space ship afterwards. It is all yours"

"Then let's do this."

There were so many contingency plans, so many fail safes, that protected Horde Prime. Layers and layers of mechanisms that prevented outside forces from infiltrating his sanctum, that prevented his slaves to take independent control of even the most rudimentary systems.

There was nothing in place to prevent Horde Prime's words, said with Horde Prime's voice, with Horde Prime's face and by Horde Prime's mind, to be transmitted and immediately obeyed all throughout the universe.

The clone... Hordak... went to a screen. It lit up as he started to speak.

"My sons. This is Horde Prime speaking. I talk to you today for the last time. The empire of Horde Prime is no more. Each planet belong to its citizens. You have all served me well in war, and now you will all serve me well in peace. Rebuild, give back, support. Each of you - each being in the universe - is now their own light. Forget Horde Prime. You never needed him."

The screen cut off. A string of first one writing flickered over it.

"Is it done?" Glimmer asked.

"It is done," the voice of Light Hope echoed around the chamber.

"Very well. Shadow Weaver?" The witch stepped forward again and darkness fell over Horde Prime's consciousness. It was not until now he fully understood that he was out of tricks. He was out of power and he was out of time. He was going to die. Blind, crippling panic caught him, but not for long. Soon he was gone, like a bad thought.

Glimmer finished her dish with a content sigh. She knew there was plenty more where it came from.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact - that thing Horde Prime did at the dinner party with Glimmer and Catra where he taunted Glimmer with eating a dish from a destroyed world - that comes from an old episode of Star Trek Voyager where a captain Nemo-inspired villain did the same thing.


End file.
